Lewis Hamilton has been told by his Mercedes team that they will not change their policy on strategy despite the Briton ruing a “boring” Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who clinched the Formula One championship in Austin last month, followed his team-mate Nico Rosberg home for the second race in succession on Sunday.
But the Briton spent a large part of the race on the team radio desperate to stretch the tactical imagination of his Mercedes team.
“Can you get me on a different strategy somehow?” he asked.
“I’m faster but it’s impossible to overtake.”
His team however refused to break from their mantra of running identical strategies for both of their drivers.
As such Rosberg and Hamilton pitted on three occasions – a lap apart – and a rather tepid race ensued.
“If the driver in the car starts to make the strategy he is going to lose every single race,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
“Your instinct might be right sometimes, but if you are not having the full set of data you are going to get the majority of your races wrong, and that is why we will keep it like this.
“The driver being emotional in the car is understandable. We hired guard dogs and we don’t want any puppies.
“But we have had our principles with one strategy since 2013. It has worked well for the team and we will not change that.”
Speaking on the podium after Sunday’s race Hamilton, now yet to win on nine visits to Brazil, said: “Unfortunately today I could not get close enough to be able to put on a great race so it was relatively boring.”
He later called for Formula One’s complex technical rules to be changed in a bid to spice up the show.
“As a fan I can understand that they may feel short-changed, but there are various escalations,” Wolff added.
“We could have done it like teams in the past where we have a clear number one driver and number two driver. Sometimes it is difficult for us to manage letting the two fight with each other.
“Now you could even say let’s take it one step further and also let the strategists play against each other, but this is not where we want to get to.
“Controversy within the team is detrimental and we have kept the team together because the team comes first. The boring answer is that we are not going to change it.”
Rosberg has now started from pole at the last five grands prix, and won both races – in Mexico and in Brazil – since Hamilton clinched his third world title.
Wolff added: “You could say that Lewis has won it all and he has achieved his target. The adrenalin is maybe not as high as it was before.
“Nico is driving without pressure. I am not sure they know, but both of them will spend time reflecting on it over the winter.”